Happy Holidays
by The Almighty Kit
Summary: Tala doesn't like Christmas parties, not one bit. Will a certain silver haired blader change his mind? GarlandTala, BryanMax, and KaiRei. Please read and reveiw! :D.


Hey all! I'm back! I'm SO sorry I haven't been able to update. First of all, I've been sick all month. I almost missed exams because of being so sick. Hell, a few days ago, they almost put my ass in the hospital. I swear I'll get to the 2nd chapter of Stormy Saturdays as soon a possible.

But for now, here's a little Christmas fic I managed to type up. It's a little different from the pairings I normally use, so bare with me. I wanted to try something new. XD.

Anyway, on with the fic!

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I love Christmas. Really, I do. I love it almost as much as I love my blade, leather and that Gravitation show. Seriously, that show is the best. I could talk about it for -hours-. Just ask Bryan.

But what I immensely dislike is Christmas parties. Sure, the one Kai had with just me, Rei, Spencer, Bryan and Ian last year was fun. After eating and opening presents, we all celebrated New Year's early. Now -that- was fun. I vaguely remember waking up on top of Kai's dinning room table.

This Christmas party is completely different. Almost every team is here. Hell, even the adults are here. That's the part that kills me. As soon as I walked through the door with a bottle of the best Russian vodka, those bastards took it away claiming, "They don't promote underage drinking." I was looking forward to drinking it too. It took me forever to sneak it out of Bryan's secret stash.

So now I'm sitting here on the couch in the living room blatantly ignoring everyone who speaks to me besides my teammates, Rei, Max and Michael. Michael's actually not that bad once you get to know him. He's not that bad looking either. If he wasn't taken, I'll admit, I'd definitely jump at the chance to date him. I'm still trying to figure out how in the hell he and Rick got together in the first place.

I hear the doorbell ring and a blur of blue runs past me. I was tempted to trip him, but I really don't feel like messing up my new boots. These boots are the best. Spencer has good taste when it comes to boots. Yes, Spencer. You couldn't tell it by what he himself wears, but whatever. He got me these as an early Christmas present. I was thrilled, to say the least. I've been wanting a new pair for a while now.

"BROOKLYN'S TEAM IS HERE! YAY!"

Seriously Tyson. Just shut up. Do you know how stu—. Wait. Brooklyn's team is here? That means…oh hell. Garland's here. The bastard who put my ass in a fucking COMA is -here-? Who the hell invited him? Well, judging by the stupid grin on Tyson's face, it was him. That boy has a death warrant. He better hope he doesn't fall asleep around me. I'll shave his fucking head.

Can I go home now? I'm being dead serious. I don't like Garland, not in the least bit. Shit. Why is he walking over to me? Okay, time to move.

I calmly get up and leave my comfy spot on the couch, and walk right past Garland without so much as glancing at him. Score one for Tala. I continue my escape from Garland until I stop in the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against it with my right shoulder so that I can look at everyone in the living room. What can I say? I'm nosey. Rei rubbed off on me.

Speaking of Rei, he and Kai have disappeared. I'm pretty sure I saw them go into the backyard for some "alone time". Rei's former team was about to worry the hell out of him, especially Mariah. I'm pretty sure they're the -only- team who don't know Rei's almost as gay as I am. And that's pretty damn gay, if I do say so myself.

I used to absolutely despise Rei. Well, those days are pretty much over. I spent a lot of time with him after the last tournament, considering the fact he moved in with Kai back in Russia. So since I went over to Kai's about everyday since my apartment is crappy, I saw a lot of him, eventually forcing me to swallow my pride and talk to him. I'm glad I did. We usually pal around together while Kai and Bryan are at work. As you may have guessed, I don't work. My apartment is paid off and if I get hungry, I just go over to Kai's. Hey, after the shit I put up with at the Abbey, I think I have a right to be as lazy as I want to be.

As you can probably tell, unless you're a complete idiot like Tyson, Kai and Rei are obviously together. I have a room at Kai's and I'm damn glad it's nowhere near the room they stay in. Bryan, on the other hand, does have a room near them and he says they can get LOUD. Ha. Sucks for him.

I've heard from Michael that the two lovebirds have been together since the American round at the Bladebreaker's first tournament, though I haven't asked Kai about it yet. I don't care exactly when they got together. I'm just glad that they did. Rei's good for Kai. I can tell he's become a lot happier since he's met Rei.

Speaking of the Bladebreakers, the youngest member of the team is currently running around like a little monkey. Ha. The dumbass just took out that ugly plastic Santa thing Tyson had standing by the front doorway. At least the little brat is good for something. I'm sorry, I can't help it. I hate Daichi with a passion. He's too much like Tyson.

Hey, Where is Tyson? I haven't heard his loud mouth in a while now. Oh, there he is. The pigheaded idiot, as I like to call him, is currently sitting beside the ever-polite Brooklyn on the couch, talking about a million miles per minute. It looks like somebody has a crush and judging by the very faint blush on Brooklyn's cheeks, it looks like he likes Tyson back. This could be a good thing. I mean, Brooklyn's a genius. Maybe he can help Tyson be smart.

Max is sitting near his obnoxious best friend, much to Bryan's dismay, considering they're sitting in the same chair. Yes, they're together. Bet you didn't see that one coming. They're currently the hottest topic at this little get together. Even the adults are talking about it. Judy keeps giving Bryan shifty looks. I wonder what she'll say when she finds out that her little angel and Bryan did it in the back of Bryan's tricked out Escalade the other day. Now -that- would be priceless. I'd pay to see the look on her face when she finds that out.

In my opinion, they're a cute couple. Opposites attract, and in this case, that's totally true. Plus, Bryan's mellowed out a little since he's been dating Max, which has been going on for a few months now. Kai nearly had a heart attack when he found it out. But I guess he's okay with it now, seeing as though Bryan's fiercely protective over his little Maxie. It's SO cute.

I jump when I feel something brush against my cheek. I've got to stop zoning out. It's hazardous to my health. I turn swiftly, hitting the wall with my back. Ow. My, aren't I graceful today? I raise my fist on instinct. I can't help it. It's a habit.

My eyes narrow when I see the person standing before me, though I do lower my fist.

"What do you want, Granger?"

Hiro smirks down at me. I'd really love to wipe that smirk off his face right about now. Little known fact: Hiro's been trying to get in my pants since the last tournament. If he weren't such a cocky bastard, I probably would consider letting him. What? He's hot, in all honesty.

"Oh nothing. You really should pay more attention Tala. You've been standing under mistletoe this whole time. Luckily, I've been the only one who's come through here, but you had better watch out. Lee's been eyeing you for the past 20 minutes."

With a swift kiss on my lips he walks off. Bastard. Though glancing over at Lee I can see him staring. That's all he better do. I move from the doorway to the wall beside it, just incase Lee dares to come near me. Glancing back over I swear I see him pouting. Well, I guess there's another blader in the gay club.

So far, there are Brooklyn, me, Mystel, Oliver, Miguel, Claude, Bryan, Michael, Rick and Hiro. Tyson, and now Lee, are iffy. Tyson more so than Lee because of the Hilary factor. Those two are constantly flirting. It's amusing. Yet now he's currently flirting with Brooklyn. Oh well. I could really careless about Tyson.

Great. Looks like Lee caught me looking at him because he's currently making his way over to where I'm standing. Shoot me now.

He grins at me, looking me up and down. I knew I shouldn't have worn this, but I wanted to surprise people by looking different. I'm still wearing the tight leather pants I'm famous for, but they're solid black, for once. And of course I have on my new black boots. They have a heel on them too. Spencer knows how much I can't stand that now I'm currently the second shortest on my team since Kai's growth spurt. He's almost as tall as Bryan now.

Anyway, to complete my outfit, I have on one of Bryan's white dress shirts with a black vest over it and my hair is currently down. I also have a little bit of eyeliner on. I'm sure the adults had something to talk about before the discovery of Bryan and Max's relationship.

Shit. I really need to stop zoning out. Lee's now too close for comfort. I raise an eyebrow.

"Do you want something?"

His grin widens. This can't be a good thing.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you were standing all alone under the mistletoe. Were you wanting on anyone by any chance?"

I give him a 'drop it and go the hell away' look. He doesn't move. People are really stupid these days aren't they?

"Why would I be?" I snap at him. You would think he'd take a hint and go bug Kevin or something.

He smirks and moves even closer. I'm so tempted to knee him, but the adults clearly stated no fighting as one of the rules. They gave us Russians a pointed look. Bastards.

"I saw you staring at me Tala. Don't be shy."

My mouth drops. I probably shouldn't have done that, but the nerve of this guy is surprising. Damn, he's probably think he's caught me. Great. This is a fine situation I've put myself in this time.

"Excuse me?"

Hey, I'm practically speechless. I couldn't come up with anything better.

He raises his hand and I glare hatefully at him, daring him to touch me. I don't think he knows that I'm fully capable of killing his ass because he does the unthinkable and places his hand on my hip. I've gotta hand it to Lee, he's pretty damn brave, stupid as hell, but still brave.

"Oh come on Tala. Don't play hard to get. I know you're lonely."

I blink. Lonely, maybe, but I'm not desperate. Not yet anyway. You know what, screw the whole no fighting rule. I raise my fist to slam it into Lee's nose, but to my surprise, my wrist is grabbed and I'm pulled away from Lee and whisked off towards the couch.

Looking up I can see Hiro's smirking face. I can't help but sigh in relief.

"I told you to watch out for him."

I glare at him.

"I tried. He's just…persistent."

Hiro laughs and sits beside me on the couch, letting go of my wrist.

"I think he was a little more than persistent."

I find myself snickering at that little comment. Okay. Hiro's definitely moved up a few notches in my book. He's not actually that bad anymore, really.

I look around, seeing everyone, including Lee, now sitting in various places around the tree that has about million presents under it. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but there really are a lot of presents since I, along with a few others, downright refused to do secret Santa. What? Could you blame me? We have quite a few perverts running around here in the blading community, and with my luck; I'd get a not so nice gift from one of them. I was just trying to protect my ass, quite literally.

Feeling the couch shift beside me, I glance sideways and freeze. Garland. The bane of my existence. Looking around I see no other free seats. Damn. For safety reasons only, I scoot closer to Hiro, who looks at me curiously and then looks at who is currently sitting on my left. Garland shifts a little and I swear I see him shift a little closer to me.

If I scoot any closer to Hiro, I swear I'd be in his lap. Heh, he's probably like that wouldn't he?

Looking around I see all the bladders chatting happily amongst themselves, Hilary trying to get their attention. Oh great…now she's gonna scream at us in her horribly shrilly voice. Normally, I think Hilary's alright for a girl, but when she screams, it kills my poor sensitive ears. I resist the urge to stick my fingers in them. Here it comes….

3….

2….

1…

"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT THE HELL UP?"

The room goes dead silent and the adults look surprised by her "vulgar" language. We're teenagers. We cuss. Get the hell over it.

Hilary smiles, looking pleased with herself.

"That's better. Since everyone's here now, I figured we should go ahead and open presents"

She looks at the huge pile of presents and then smiles nervously.

"I have a feeling it'll take awhile. So! I need a few of you guys to help pass them all out. Any volunteers?"

I don't move. I told you, I'm lazy. Plus, I like this couch. It's really comfy. I feel the couch move on both sides of me and both Hiro and Garland go to help pass out presents along with Miguel, Michael, Rick and to my distress, Lee. Hopefully Hiro will keep him away from me.

I stretch out on the couch while no one else is sitting on it, letting Hiro and Michael pile presents where my feet used to be. Damn. I've probably got one from every person there. Hey, I was just as bad this year. Rei and I were given Kai's credit card to go Christmas shopping with. I bought two things for the people I liked and one thing for the people I don't like. Hell, I even got one for Garland. They were nice gifts too. I was in a very good mood that day. Why? Boris' ass was sentenced to rot in a jail for the rest of his miserable life. Ha. Take that you, obnoxious, child molesting/raping, son of a bitch.

I blink and sit up as two presents are gently shoved in my hands, the smaller one falling into my lap. Looking up, I'm rendered completely speechless. Garland. Glancing down at the tags I see that these are both his presents to me. I stare at him. I know I must look like an idiot, but I definitely surprised by this.

He looks at me expectantly, his own presents let abandoned to our left.

"Aren't you going to open them?"

I blink and nod, moving the smaller present over to sit beside me on my right since Hiro has obviously moved. I sit the big present in my lap. The box really isn't all that heavy, but it's pretty big. Glancing at Garland one more time, I proceed to open the present, tearing off the wrapping paper and carelessly throwing it aside.

Seeing it taped shut I look up at Garland expectantly. I left my knife back at the hotel. These pants don't have pockets, and even if they did, I highly doubt anything would fit in them. These pants are damn tight.

Garland rolls his eyes seeing me make no move to cut the tape and pulls a knife out of his back pocket. Hey, I recognize that knife. That was his present from me. Well, I know that he's opened one of his presents.

After Garland cuts the tape I open the box and peer inside. No. Fucking. Way. Pulling out the 4 Gravitation DVDs and the Gravitation OVA, I look up at Garland in shock. To my surprise, he smiles and lifts the cardboard bottom that the DVDs were resting on revealing all 12 volumes of the manga. My jaw drops for the second time today and I pull them out one by one, inspecting each one before sitting them on my right with the DVDs.

Once again he lifts up the cardboard they were sitting on and I freeze. He got me a Kumagoro bunny. He got me a Kumagoro bunny! How did he know?

Lifting the bunny out of the box I notice something taped to the back of it. Untaping the sheet of notebook paper from the bunny's back, I set it aside and begin to scan over the paper's contents. It's a hand written letter of apology. How more personal of a gift can you get? I swear my hands are shaking by the end of the letter. I continue to stare at the paper; pushing away my other still wrapped presents to my right with my feet. I put the paper aside on top of my bunny and move the box from my lap. I can't believe I'm going to do this, but…

I pounce. On Garland. He stumbles back a bit, obviously taken off guard. A few seconds later, I feel his arms wrap around my back, which was a relief since my arms, that are currently around his neck, were getting tired. You've got to remember, Garland's almost a fricken foot taller than me. I was just kinda hanging there for a few seconds there.

Looking over Garland's shoulder I can clearly see that everyone is staring. Hiro is looking at me smugly, and I can't help but blush slightly, knowing how this probably looks to most people. Mystel's looking very jealous right now. Hell, I'm about to make him even more jealous. I burry my head into the crook of Garland's neck. Looking up, I swear I can see Garland's ears turning pink.

Actually, you know what? I really don't think I just did that because I wanted to make Mystel jealous. I think I did it because I wanted to. I know we've probably been standing this way for at least five minutes now, but…I find myself not wanting to pull away. I'm…comfortable. I feel strangely safe holding onto Garland like this. Wow. That's a scary thought. I feel safe with Garland, the guy who put me in a coma.

But wait, this is also the same guy who probably just spent well over 200 dollars on only -one- of the two presents he bought me. This is the same guy who gave me a hand written, heartfelt letter of apology that brought me to tears, even though I won't admit that last part out loud. I've been wrong about Garland all along. He's not an evil bastard who hurt me. That was Boris. Garland was a pawn of Boris' just like I was. He really is nice after all. Not to mention he's pretty good looking and he smells really nice.

Did I just think that? Oh God. I think I might now officially have a crush on him. Hiro looks awful smug over there. I bet that sneaky bastard planned for this to happen.

Okay, my arms are getting tired now. I sigh and reluctantly pull away from Garland. Yes, I said it. Reluctantly.

Sitting back down, he silently hands me the smaller box. The much smaller box. I quickly unwrap it and throw the paper aside. I stare at it for a few moments. After the other gifts he bought me, I'm scared to open this one. Not because I think it'll be something bad, but because I'm kinda afraid of how -nice- it will be.

Biting my lip I slowly open the box, looking away from it until it's fully opened. Seeing what's inside nearly makes me drop it. A white gold snowflake pendant. A 24K white gold snowflake pendant. A diamond cut 24k white gold snowflake pendant. Oh. My. God.

I look up at Garland with wide eyes, seeing him smiling. I'm even more shocked than before. When he leans over and takes the box from me, I make no move to stop him. I just watch on silently as he pulls the necklace from the box and leans back over me, fastening it around my neck. Okay, I'm about to do something completely unexpected for the second time tonight.

As Garland leans up to give me my space, I grab his ponytail to hold him there and then I lean up, kissing him. I let go of his ponytail and wrap my arms around his neck. As soon as he starts kissing back, the whole room erupts into cheers and we both jump and pull away to stare at them curiously.

Tyson, unsurprisingly, is the first person to speak up, grinning like the idiot he is.

"Took ya long enough!"

My eyes widen. I look up at Garland, who currently has an arm around my waist. His cheeks most definitely have a pink tint to them.

I look back at the others, seeing as though I'm not going to get any answers from him.

"What do you mean by that?"

Hiro smirks.

"Tala, Garland's liked you since the tournament. True, he put you in the hospital, but he was afraid of what would happen to you if he didn't."

I look up at Garland who nods, the blush still evident on his cheeks.

"Yeah. Me and Hiro planned the whole 'operation get Tala and Garland together tonight' thing."

Lee winked at me.

"But seriously, if Garland didn't like you as much as he does, and if you were single, I would seriously make a move on you because really do look hot tonight."

I blush and burry my head in Garland's chest, making Lee laugh.

"So, Are you and Garland gonna give the whole being a couple thing a chance, Tala?"

I look over at Max, who is currently sitting happily in Bryan's lap, Bryan having his arms wrapped around Max's waist possessively. I swear, Bryan would kill the boy's own shadow for getting too close to him if he could.

Looking up at Garland, I smile faintly. Hey, why not? I've got nothing to lose. Besides, I'm really starting to like this guy.

"Yeah Max. I think we will."

He grins and this time, he's the one who kisses me. I of course, kiss back happily.

At first I thought this Christmas party what going to be such a drag with no vodka and the adults breathing down our necks every two seconds. But you know what? I can now happily say that this has been the best Christmas, and Christmas party, I've ever had. And I bet it's only going to get better.

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Well, I hope you liked it! And I promise, I'll get the next chapter of Stormy Saturdays out really soon!

Please review:D.


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